US calls for calm in island stand-off

The United States has called for “cooler heads to prevail" in the territorial stand-off between China and Japan over a group of islands in the East China Sea, just as Beijing said it had ramped up military drills and reserved the right to take action.

The dispute over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands escalated after the Japanese government paid $US25 million to buy them from their private owner, bringing them under state control.

The Japanese administered islands are also claimed by China, which refers to them as the Diaoyu Islands.

Beijing said Japan’s purchase was “illegal and invalid" and sent two “marine surveillance" ships to waters near the islands on Tuesday. Its national weather bureau also began providing forecasts for the islands and surrounding waters.

Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army newspaper said in a front page article that naval, air and armed forces had ramped up exercises since the start of the month and the “armed forces are prepared to safeguard state sovereignty at any time".

Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said the Chinese government was “watching closely the evolution of the situation and reserve the right to take reciprocal measures".

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has also said it would not rule out sending self-defence troops if the situation “gets out of control".

While Japan and China share a strong economic relationship, both governments have been accused of using their mutual animosity to shore up support at home.

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Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, weighed into the dispute on Tuesday, saying the “stakes could not be bigger".

“We think, in the current environment, we want cooler heads to prevail, frankly," he said at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“We believe that peaceful dialogue and the maintenance of peace and security is of utmost importance always but particularly now in this set of circumstances."

But Beijing, suspicious of the Obama administration’s so-called “pivot" to Asia, has rejected any US involvement in the dispute.

The front pages of its state-run newspapers were dominated by anti-Japan stories on Wednesday. Henan Daily’s main story was titled “Give us back our land" while Xianyang Today had a picture of a fist breaking through a Japanese flag and the headline: “In the illegal island purchase, you’re to blame for the consequences."

Beijing has used ships from its maritime law enforcement agency, China Marine Surveillance, in other territorial disputes. One of its ships was involved in a stand-off with the Philippine government over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The recent flare-up follows a meeting between Chinese President
Hu Jintao
and Mr Noda on the side lines of the recent APEC summit in Vladivostok.

Mr Hu reportedly warned Japan of “serious consequences" if it went ahead with the purchase.